The Roman Empire

aunt minerva collection
The Foster Family by W.T. Foster, cont.



The Roman empire about that time, 800 A.D. was crumbling and could not defend its provinces. The coasts of northern Europe, including England and Scotland, fell an easy prey to those Danish Nobles whose Viking ships, carrying their armies, moved out of the Baltic sea and across the North Sea, some going to England and some to northern continental European coasts, till a very large part of Europe was over run by these Danes, blue-eyed and grey-eyed, and by the other Slavic tribes to the north, east, northwest of Denmark. Much of Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy were conquered by these Northmen about 800 A.D. About 200 years before, 600 A.D. the Angles and Saxons conquered England and mixed with the ancient Celts. Those Northmen armies took their families with them, and being of kindred tribes, they intermarried.
One of those very rich and powerful Danish Nobles, Anacher, a grey-eyed Dance, of great muscular and mental strength and a successfull general, took his army and navy to the northern part of the continent of Europe and conquered a large part of it, now included in Holland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and several of the present French and German provinces. He organized the conquered territory into a state and named it Flanders. "He was the ancestor of all the Fosters that ever lived," says Pierce, the noted Chicago genealogist. Anacher procured large landed estates near Bruges, now capitol of west Flanders and also near Sluys, now in Holland. He made Arras, now in France, his capitol of Flanders. Charlemagne, the great warrier, statesman and King of France, thru the assistance of Anacher and his army, became the successful defender of Christianity and the Roman Empire from the attacks of new swarms of the Northmen. Charlemagne elevated Anacher to a newly established cabinet position which Charlemagne called The Great Forrester because Anacher was to have charge of all the wild animals and government lands of France. That was the origin of the Foster name which was changed, later to Forester and then to Foster. Anacher was made general of France and was specially charged with defending the sea coast against all invaders particularly Northmen. That was long before Rolfe or Rolla, son of a Norway chief and father of William the Conquerer, invaded France and organized Normandy.
Anacher died A.D. 837 and his son took his place. Charlemagne died in 814.